The present invention relates to a container for holding liquids, and more particularly to a disposable container for bodily fluid specimen, such container having a detachable lid and funnel so that liquid can easily and accurately be deposited in the container and then tightly sealed with the lid.
Currently, when samples of bodily fluids such as urine, need to be taken, a specimen is deposited into a small bottle or other container. Typically, these containers and their threaded caps are manufactured by relatively expensive injection molded process.
In typical medical facilities the patient deposits a specimen in a large intermediate container, then pours the contents of that container into the sample bottle and seals the sample bottle. However, this is wasteful, expensive, and inconvenient. Alternatively, the patient may be required to deposit the specimen directly into the small bottle. It is often difficult and cumbersome to deliver a stream of liquid into a small cup or bottle with accuracy. This process may be particularly cumbersome for young children, elderly persons, and female patients. Existing systems do not provide for a simple, efficient, and inexpensive way to direct a stream of bodily fluid or other liquid into a small cup or bottle. Not only are conventional methods for obtaining and depositing urine or other liquid samples cumbersome and expensive, but they are also potentially unsanitary due to the tendency to spill portions of the specimen during transfer from the intermediate container to the bottle.
Currently, specimen bottles or sample cups are produced and often distributed as separate pieces such as the cup or bottle and the associated cap or closure. Separate pieces are prone to being lost or misplaced.
Once the liquid specimen is in the container, the container must be sealed. Clearly, a tight seal between the bottle and the cap is required. This is typically accomplished by a washer or gasket contained within the cap and by threading the cap onto the bottle. When the cap is twisted onto the bottle, the sealing washer or gasket is compressed between the rim of the bottle and the cap to achieve a tight seal. Again, this requires an additional component and additional expense during manufacturing and assembly.
Other containers have eliminated the need for a sealing washer or gasket by requiring that the cap be applied to the bottle with sufficient force so that a tight seal is achieved without a washer or gasket. This is accomplished by twisting the cap onto the bottle or by pressing the cap onto the bottle with sufficient force. However, individuals with relatively weak hands and fingers, such as children and the elderly, may have difficulty exerting sufficient force necessary to obtain a positive seal.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sealable container for liquids that provides a liquid-tight seal between a cup and a lid.
another object of the present invention is to provide a sealable container for liquids that facilitate the direction of a stream of liquid into the cup.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a sealable container for liquids including a funnel that can be easily detached from the cup for use in directing a stream of liquid into the cup.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a sealable container for liquids where the funnel is self-aligning with the cup.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a sealable container for liquids where all components, such as a cup portion, a lid portion and/or a funnel portion are formed from a single sheet of thermoformable material.